I really had a hard time deciding in which direction to go... I finally chose my neighbourhood community, maybe because I've been doing several little quilts related to houses and neighbourhood these last months.This is a very simplified view of my neighbourhood. Nice little houses with small gardens... A lovely, quiet and friendly neighbourhood. But as our children are growing, the links between our families seem nevertheless to be fading. I sometimes see each house as a kind of spiral centering on itself. Don't get me wrong, I still like the place where I live, but I'm a bit nostalgic of the good old time when the kids were all playing together in the street.
I made another quilt on the same theme, using my carved printing block, but I much prefer the first one. I'll post more about this on my blog soon.
10 comments:
Your hand stitching adds another dimension to your abstract streetscape. The red houses suggest to me the heat of living people that shows up in infra-red aerial photography. The streets may be quiet but there are still pulsing hearts within.
Love those hand dyed colors. Your community concept turned out great. It does seem sad that the neighborhood people have grown apart.
The houses are still warm even though the neighborhood is cooling off. Great use of color on this one.
It is very interesting to me how so many of our group have visited the idea of communities changing and losing their connections. I love hearing these stories. The hand stitched houses are charming. I have moved several times since my children left home so I have not thought of how my community would change if I still lived where they grew up.
I totally understand how communities can be built around children. As a kid, we were always out playing together. As an adult, the first community that I truely was a part of was built around a toddler play group. The kids first brought us together, but all our families were together several times a week. Then as the kids grew and we had more of them it became more difficult to have 12 kids and 8 adults together in one house. Now the kids have different activities and our time is pulled in different directions.
Your quilt captures that slight pulling apart perfectly. Your hand dyed fabric shows the love within the house. I like to think the touch of purple in the street is hope that the love within the community can be revived.
There is so much I like about your piece, Francoise, the warm houses against the cool blue, the inward spiral of the house shapes (leading inward, leading home, etc) the wonderful hand stitching, the placement of the pieces... It's terrific.
Wait a little bit until the kids bring their kids to your community. It will regain its charm. It is what happening in my neighborhood. And this quilt is quite charming.
Ditto what Karen said. I'm intrigued by the way the houses are spiraling into themselves, yet still belong to the group because of their similar size, color and their placement in the grid. I often feel a bit like this -- that I could become a hermit and retreat into my house without interacting with others (it's nice to know they are still there though, if I decide to come out).
Beautiful. I was looking at your three quilts on our website and they are all so cohesive. Just lovely.
I like the "leaning"angles of this piece. And, Francoise, when I read your remark about the spirals centering inwards, I thought ÿes, but they also can be seen to be spiralling OUTwards"
It reminds me of a quote that "home should be the center, though not the boundary,of the affections."
So MY interpretation of what I see here is love, that has begun in homes, spiralling out into the community.
Either way, it's a lovely quilt and I want to touch it!
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